Alberto Arenas, Ph.D.

Biographical Sketch

Professor Arenas grew up in Bogota, Colombia. After studying at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota he relocated to the United States and transferred to the University of Arizona in Tucson to finish his bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Journalism. Upon his graduation in 1989, he returned to South America, first to Colombia and then Brasil, where he lived for two years. While working in Salvador, Bahia (Brazil), he became immersed in the field of literacy. He returned to the United States to pursue his graduate education, which he did by entering the program of Socio-Cultural Studies in Education at the University of California at Berkeley. While at Berkeley, he became interested in the field of environmental studies, which he combined with his work in sociology and anthropology of education, and it is that combination of fields that drives his teaching and research until the present.

Upon his graduation from his Ph.D. degree in 2000, he went to teach to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he taught at the Center for International Education in the Department of Educational Policy, Research, and Administration. Over there, he taught courses on Human Rights Education, Environmental Education, and Comparative Education, and directed Global Horizons, a program to train teachers on issues related to Global Education.

In 2002, he was hired by his old alma mater, the University of Arizona, and has taught in the College of Education since then. From 2008-2010, he was the Co-Director and Principal Investigator of the Western Hemisphere Institute, a federal grant that brought to the University of Arizona Latin American students (from over 10 different countries, and mostly indigenous and Afro-Latin American) to learn about the history and culture of the United States with a focus on sustainability studies.  In addition to being an editorial board member of Latin American research journals, Professor Arenas was appointed member of the Education and Communication Committee for 2009-2012 of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN, based in Switzerland), one of the largest environmental organizations in the world.  

At the University of Arizona he has taught courses related to Environmental and Sustainability Studies; History of Education; Educational Leadership; and Research Methods. His research focuses on Environmental and Sustainability Studies; Productive and Work Education (also known as Vocational, Technical and Career Education); History of Education; and Education and Human Rights. Professor Arenas is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies in the College of Education.